Disclaimer: If I owned Power Rangers, I would not waste my time writing fanfiction; I'd be putting this stuff in the show every week. Clearly, I don't own it. So don't sue.

A/N: Some Conner/Kira fluff I was working on. Set prior to the White Thunder saga.

Wonderwall

After school, the two met up again, this time with Ethan, at Hayley's. "Hey man," Conner said, slapping the Blue Ranger a high five. "Where'd you disappear to this morning? The good doctor said you had some extra credit to do."

"Could we not discuss this?" Ethan said.

Kira frowned. "What's wrong? Is it…uh…you know."

"No, it isn't."

"Then why don't you wanna talk about it?" Conner asked.

"I got a reputation to maintain," Ethan hissed, glancing around furtively before motioning that they should lean in. Which they did. "Okay, turns out I'm not doing so hot in history, and Dr. O. said I could go to study hall and work on my make up project, since we weren't doing anything in class today." He bowed his head reverently. "Good man, Dr. O. Good man."

"What's wrong with history?" Kira said.

Conner and Ethan both turned to her with incredulous expressions. "You're kidding, right?" Conner said. "It's boring." Ethan nodded emphatically.

"But you're all gung-ho with the dinosaur stuff whenever Dr. O. brings it up."

"He isn't talking about some dead bones, he's talking about giant robots that I get to play with," Ethan said.

"This whole superhero thing is just one big dork wet dream for you, isn't it?" Kira said, rolling her eyes.

"Yup," Ethan said. "So what'd I miss in class?"

"We worked on our lab," Conner said.

"What did you guys do?" Ethan said.

"We worked on our lab," Conner repeated.

"Wait, you worked?" Ethan raised his eyebrows at Kira. "Conner worked?"

"Yeah," she said. "He's not stupid, Ethan."

Conner felt the tips of his ears burning. He wasn't blushing, was he? Please dear god, don't let him be blushing. Ethan raised his eyebrows at Kira, unaware of Conner's reaction to her compliment. "Are you…defending him?"

"What? No! God, Ethan. I'm just saying…well, come on, he's your leader, after all, you could show him an iota of respect." Coming from the girl who had never shown him an iota of respect herself, Conner couldn't help staring. She found him watching her and looked slightly agitated. "What?"

"You don't show me any respect."

"See?" Ethan said, slapping his hand against the table. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Trent said, coming to their table with a pad of paper in one hand. Ethan greeted him familiarly, but Kira was positively beaming at him. Conner felt an odd twinge of disgust at her rapturous expression.

"Cool, man, cool," Ethan said. "Can I get a raspberry-banana smoothie?"

"Sure thing," Trent said, scribbling it down. "Conner, man?"

"I dunno," Conner said. "Uh…just a soda, I guess. Coke."

"Can do. And I assume you'll be getting your usual?" Trent directed at Kira.

"Yep. Mineral water--"

"--with a twist of lemon," he finished for her, grinning, and she blushed slightly, lowering her gaze to the table. Conner felt ill.

"You know what, guys, I'm gonna have to get a rain check on that Coke. I don't feel so hot. I'm outta here." He pushed away from the table and stalked towards the door.

He had made it only so far down the block when Ethan came panting up to his side. "What the hell happened back there?" he demanded. "Everything was all hunky-dory, then suddenly you couldn't stand the sight of us."

"I just had to get out of there," was all Conner committed to, not looking at his friend.

"Why, 'cause of Trent? I thought you liked the guy."

"Did I say it was 'cause of Trent?"

"You left right after he showed up." Ethan paused, and ended up stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk. A little kid on a bike made rude comments as he swerved to avoid him, but Ethan took no notice. "It's Kira, isn't it."

"What?" Conner said, turning to look at him with an annoyed expression.

"I'm right, aren't I," Ethan said, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. "This morning, when I was teasing you…I was totally right. You like Kira."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Conner complained, raising his eyes skyward. "Look. Kira's cool and all, I guess, but I'm so not into her like that. Okay? So could everyone just back off?"

"Who else said you did?"

"Hayley."

"Is Hayley ever wrong?"

Though Conner was loath to admit it, Hayley was rarely wrong. "Look, dude," he said, "I can't like Kira, okay? She's a teammate."

"So? Dr. O. used to date his teammates."

"How do you know this?"

"Did you not watch the whole 'my life as a Power Ranger' true confessions video thing?" Ethan said. "Dr. O. so totally had a thing going on with that Pink Ranger. And if he ever talked to us that isn't a lecture of some kind, he'd probably own up to it."

"He'd never talk to us in a non-lecture. And he'd never own up to something like that," Conner said. "Dr. O. is way secretive, especially when it comes to the ladies." He sighed. "And reason number two why I can't like Kira is because she's all drooly over Trent."

"Those are reasons why you can't like Kira, not reasons why you don't like Kira," Ethan observed. "So you do."

"I…okay, maybe I do. I don't know," Conner said. "I mean, I don't think I do…I get worried sometimes, when we're fighting, and…"

"You never miss one of her shows," Ethan pointed out.

"Neither do you," Conner defended himself.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one up in the front row with the goofy grin."

"I am not grinning goofily."

"Shut up. You are. Look, if you like Kira, move fast, dork boy. Because you're right, she is all drooly over Trent. I think it's that whole brooding, misunderstood artist thing she's attracted to. I mean, c'mon now, when was the last time you drew a picture of her as a superhero?"

"You're not helping."

"Was I supposed to?" Ethan retorted.

"I can't like her," Conner stated again plaintively. "I mean, she hates me." He knew that he was just searching for excuses. There was no denying it now…he did like Kira. Great, a crush on a teammate that hated his guts.

"Oh, please, she doesn't hate you. She just…doesn't understand you. And frankly, I can't blame her. Every time I think I get you, you go and pull something on me. Like, you actually do your lab. Or you have a crush on Kira."

"I gotta do something, dude."

"Well, I suggest you move fast. 'Cause if you don't, Trent probably will."

"No, I mean, I gotta do something about this stupid crush. I gotta make it go away, or something."

"Oh really." Ethan rolled his eyes. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

"I have no idea."

"How exactly did you get to be leader, again? Because you're not the brains of the group, not by a long shot."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot."

"Well, what do you want me to say? Last time I had a crush on a girl, it was last year on April Saunders."

"Oh, I remember her!" Conner said. "That artist chick. You know what, I wish Trent had moved here earlier, he could've hooked up with her instead."

"That's a stab to my wounded heart, friend. But yeah, she was incredible. I really liked her."

"You two didn't hook up or anything, though."

"She moved away." Ethan shook his head. "I never got over it."

"Comforting."

"Look, either you ask her out, or you don't. Either you get over it, or you don't. But you can't avoid her; it's stupid to even think so. You two are teammates, you're pretty much forced into working together. So listen, I told Kira I would just be ducking out for a second, and I'm gonna head back before she thinks I got attacked or something. You coming with?"

"Um…yeah, I guess so," Conner conceded, and he followed Ethan back inside.

Kira looked up from her computer screen, sipping at her mineral water. "Hey!" she said when Conner sat down. "Are you feeling okay?" Genuine concern was in her eyes.

"Yeah," Conner said, forcing a smile. "I just felt a little, uh…nauseous. Needed some fresh air."

"He was puking in an alley when I found him," Ethan said.

"Ew, you were?" Kira asked, looking as though she was about to move her chair away.

"No, I wasn't," Conner said, glaring at Ethan. "He's an idiot."

"Back to normal, I see," Ethan said.

"So you're sure you're doing okay," Kira pressed.

"I'm fine, really, I swear. In fact, I'm kinda hungry. You guys up for some kind of baked good or something? On me…" he added in a tantalizing tone.

"Conner McKnight is buying? The earth is the sky, and the sky the earth," Ethan marveled. "Hook me up with two espresso brownies."

"No way, dude!" Conner said, laughing. "You get one baked good. That's it. Kira, anything for you?"

"Um…just a blueberry muffin, I guess," she said with a confused smile. She raked her gaze around the Cyberspace. "Where's Trent..?"

"That's okay!" Conner said quickly, standing up. "I'll just go up to the bar and get it."

"Gee, Conner, why wouldn't you want Trent to do it?" Ethan flashed him a mocking grin.

"He's just, uh, really busy, is all," Conner covered, knowing how lame his excuse sounded. "Fine, two espresso brownies. You pig."

"Thought so," Ethan said, leaning back with a self-satisfied smirk.

Conner rolled his eyes and went over to the bar. "Hey, Conner, how goes it?" Hayley said, fixing him with a smile as she polished a glass.

"Hey. Uh, can I get a large Coke, two espresso brownies, a slice of cheesecake, and a blueberry muffin." He glanced over his shoulder at Kira. "The largest one you've got."

"Have you been thinking about what I said?" she asked, following his gaze to the table.

"Sadly, yeah."

"'Sadly'? What's the problem?"

"Your busboy."

"Right, of course."

"You know everything, Hales…do I have a chance?" Conner asked.

"I'd say you have a fair chance," she said, handing over the tray with Conner's order. "If I were you, I wouldn't give Ethan two of those brownies."

"Whatever shuts him up."

"Your funeral," she said, and went to tend to another customer.

Conner wove his way through the afternoon crowd back to the table, and set it down. "Muffin for the lady," he said grandly, handing it over.

"God, Conner, the DinoZords couldn't even take this muffin down!" Kira said, laughing. "It's huge!"

"I like to do things big," he said with a shrug. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ethan grabbing for his brownies. Quickly Conner drew the tray away. "Hayley told me not to give you these."

"Hayley doesn't know anything," Ethan said, and snatched one.

Conner glanced at Kira, who rolled her eyes, and they had to stifle their laughter. "Hey, Kira, you're not performing today, are you?" Conner asked, slicing off a piece of his cheesecake and stuffing it into his mouth.

"No, not until Friday. You're coming, right?"

"Have I ever missed one?"

"Not so far."

"I figure I have to have a perfect attendance record in something," he said, grinning at her, and she smiled back.

"God, can you two stop flirting, please?" Ethan said. "I am trying to eat."

"We're not flirting," Conner said hotly, as Kira spoke the same defense simultaneously.

"Whatever," Ethan said.

Conner stared into the mouth of his soda glass, before finally chancing a glance at Kira. He found her glancing back at him, and they both looked away quickly. Great, Conner thought, now she probably thinks I like her or something.

When he finally finished an unnecessarily long swig of his Coke, Conner saw that Ethan was again immersed in a video game, and wouldn't be much conversation. He instead turned to Kira. "So, what're you looking at?"

"Just surfing for some info on pterodactyls." She sounded a little embarrassed.

"Wow, when'd you become research girl?"

"Well, I figured this would be cool to learn about, you know? Seeing as how I fly one and all," she added in an undertone.

"Do you like it?" Conner asked.

"Like what?"

"You know." He gestured erratically, hoping to somehow mime his point without being obvious, but instead just looking like an idiot. "World-Saving Club."

"Oh. Well…yeah, I guess so. I mean, it has its good points and its bad points."

"Like..?"

"The bad points should be obvious, like the constant sneaking around, and the threats on your life, getting kidnapped wasn't fun, and not to mention the fact that I never seem to have time for myself, you know?" She smiled ruefully. "But the good points…it's cool to be helping people, and it's cool to be respected, even though it's always the Yellow Ranger who gets all the credit. It's a good work out. And I get to hang out with some pretty cool people. Plus, I always have an excuse for missing science homework."

"Oh--" Conner began, but was cut off by Trent's arrival. "Hey, Kira, can I talk to you for a sec?" the busboy asked, and Kira was all too happy to comply, much to Conner's annoyance.

Motion directly in Ethan's range caused him to look up. "Where's Kira going?"

"Off with Trent."

"Bummer for you."

"Yep." Conner devoured the rest of his cheesecake in one incredibly rich bite, swigged his Coke in an attempt to wash it down, but made a face from the intense sugar dosage provided by his swift exit. "I'm gonna head out and get some practice in, as long as things are slow. Catch you later."

As Conner got into his car, his red '65 Mustang that had been painstakingly restored by his father, and presented to Conner on his sixteenth birthday, he decided to himself that it would just be easier on all three of them if he got over his crush on Kira pronto. If Ethan had picked up on it, then Kira certainly had. Girls had a whole intuition about those things. She was probably just being nice to him because she knew that he liked her, and she felt sorry for him because he didn't have a chance in the world (stupid Trent!). Besides. Kira, incredibly cool girl as she was, was completely wrong for him. Except for the whole Power Ranger thing, they had zip in common. It just spelled disaster.

Like any crush, though, getting over it would be easier in theory than in practice.